Customer Service: Chapter #3 - AVOID Primus Home Phone!

Boy, do I wish I had been anywhere other than at home one fateful night about three weeks ago. I was watching television, minding my own business when I answered the telephone. Boy, do I miss the sound of a ringing home phone, but more on that later! My caller ID told me that it was an 800 number with an unknown name.

Maybe it was Ed McMahon calling to tell me I had won a million dollars. Nope. It was Primus. I was a Primus (formerly known as Magma Communications) customer for over ten years, so I figured I'd talk to the guy.

Magma Communications became my internet provider in early 1997, at first through a dial-up line and eventually through a very good high speed service. When I needed to downgrade for eighteen months when my wife-to-be moved to Ottawa burdened with a punitive Bell Sympatico contract, they allowed me to maintain my e-mail address while we both waited to get Magma High Speed back in my homestead by temporarily downgrading my service. Anytime I needed anything, Magma was there.

Then Mr. Byers sold his company to Primus. Magma was becoming a part of a nation-wide company. At first, I was afraid that the locally-owned company would degenerate into a one with spotty or questionable customer service like Rogers and Bell seemed to have at the time. While this pair of giants has continually worked on its customer service offerings, it still lagged behind Magma. Would Primus drag Magma down to the other national competitors' level?

For the longest time, I'd have to say that it didn't. To this day, I am still the proud owner of a "magma.ca" e-mail address with no danger of losing it any time soon. Given that I haven't yet been disappointed by Primus, I figured that I'd take advantage of their offer to provide home phone service at a 25% discount. Better to have the money in my pocket rather than theirs.

A week or two passed and one day I discovered that a voicemail had been left for me by Primus. It informed me that my line would be converted from Bell to Primus on Monday, December 3rd. It cautioned me that if I ordered "personalized voicemail", I should be ready to spring into action that afternoon and "set it up" as soon as possible. I was also assured that the transition would be seamless.

That couldn't have been further from the truth. Problems began while I was away at work. When I got home some time around six, I picked up the phone. SILENCE. For almost thirty years, each time I've picked up a phone receiver I heard a dial tone. Not this time. What happened to the seamless transition? I'd soon learn that seamless couldn't be diametrically opposed to what I actually would experience in the days to come.

Figuring that the "transition" was in progress, I eventually went to bed hoping to hear the reassuring sound of a dial tone the next morning. Much to my chagrin, none was to be found. Off to work I went, eagerly anticipating the resolution of the situation after a call to the "customer service" department.

I could go on and on about how the conversations went on Tuesday, but let us say that I was promised a swift resolution to the problem at hand. Three conversations later I was told that due to whatever complication, I could expect to get my service activated (I'd say restored) within 24-48 hours.

Wednesday morning came and no dial tone was to be found. A handy supervisor named Kelly tried to help me by assuring me that the predicament had been brought to the "executives" at 6am. Whether that was supposed to impress me or not, I'll never know. By noon, no change. At about 5pm, I called and reached another person who tried to tell me that service could be back within 24-48 hours. I loved the revolving window idea... but it didn't help me any. When I expressed my disgust for what had transpired to that point and complained that I'd been promised updates and had never received one call, he insisted that they did try. Maybe they tried the very home phone number that they disabled, but the number they should have tried was my cell phone. Verification of my call log confirms that no call had been placed. Please don't lie to me, folks!

I got home late on Wednesday night and the first thing I did was try the phone. No dial tone. Day three has come and gone and the "seamless" transition had a hole in it bigger than Larry O'Brien "zero means zero" plans.

Thursday morning came along and, surprise, no dial tone! I placed yet another call to yet another "customer service" staff member. This person was able to tell me that the case had just been forwarded to Bell Canada. Why it took them three full days and change to do that, I'll never know. When this person told me that it could take 24-48 hours to resolve this newest tribulation, I went ballistic as kindly as I could.

What really gets me is had I known what a couple friends would have told me about switching to Primus before speaking to the sales guy on that fateful evening, I would have stayed miles away from them and would have hung up the phone (while it still worked!!!) That is why I am writing this today.

When will I get phone service? Who knows! 48 hours from now takes me to Saturday morning. Stay tuned!

UPDATE: I received a call at 11:27am from someone at Primus who did not identify herself. She told me that my service had just been activated. Either Bell Canada is really quick or they fed me yet another line to keep me at bay for a few more hours. I dialed my home number and discovered that the old Bell voicemail message was gone, so it seems that the lady might be right. Do I have service? I'll see when I get home. The challenge will be to find a dial tone AND a working DSL connection. Is it too much to expect that the four day journey might be over? I'll find out in an hour or so. But regardless, if they phone you, DON'T SWITCH TO PRIMUS!!! It's not worth the aggravation.